2010 Parkfield Classic Race

The Parkfield Classic has kicked off the start to the collegiate race series. It is located about 90 miles North/East of San Luis Obispo. Driving out there you pass through large ranches that are tens of thousands of acres. The venue is actually located within the Monterey County line. The weather broke the triple digits and by 10a.m. Saturday it was already into the mid eighties.
Both the DH and DS courses were the same as they have been over the last five years or so. From the start you fade off right and ride on down the hill on its left side. Slowly you come back to the crest of the hill and Cat 1/Pro (A) riders go right and into a large G-Out while Cat 2/Cat 3 (B,C) riders go around on the left. Cat 2/B riders have the option of running the G-Out also. After passing this you go into a high-speed part that leads you into a high bermed left-hander with a tree hanging over the middle of it. Kind of gives you the illusion that you may clip your head. This is where the course deviates from ones in the past. They added a small rock garden that was about forty feet long followed by a three-foot drop-off. Placing the rock section on a more or less level area made this section much trickier than it would have been otherwise. Riders could take the long way around which faded left and then hit another right hand berm that spit you out about twenty feet above where the drop-off linked back up with the trail.
After this area the course went left and came through a tree section with a small drop in it. After that there are a few corners that have no berms but must be taken at speed between trees. The course gets a little faster and again the course splits the left has another G-Out while the right is slower yet somewhat safer. The next thing is the steep fire-road width drop that is very steep. At the bottom of this you turn left through the creek bed and then fade right as the finish approaches a few G-Outs stand in the way then it is over. The course is fun, fast and tends to flow really well. A five or six inch bike would be the choice weapon here.
Watching practice there were a handful of riders that looked real fast. All the usual suspects Kendall-Weed, Bowers, Wideman, Lewis, both Furbee's and a few others. At the end of the day Ben Furbee had the fastest time with a 1:45 even beating second place Jeff Kendall-Weed by just over a second. Riders had fun on the course and there were no serious injuries to report. The collegiate race series kicks off once again! Check out full results and also the pictures we got by following the link below.

2010 Parkfield Classic Results